The Spook's Blood (Wardstone Chronicles) (16 page)

I understood the pressure he’d been under and sympathized, but I was still far from happy. There had been times when I’d be threatened by the dark in a similar way. But the Spook had instilled in me a strong sense of duty and I’d resisted. How could I ever forget that Judd Brinscall’s betrayal had resulted in my master’s death?

It was quite a while before I broke the uneasy silence that had
fallen
between us. ‘Why are there so many Romanian servants of the dark here in Todmorden?’ I asked.

‘They came here to find space and fresh victims,’ Judd told me. ‘Romania has so many of their kind that whole areas, especially in the province of Transylvania, are under their control. They’ve been building up their numbers on the County border for years, but lying low so as not to draw too much attention to themselves. When there are enough of them here and they grow stronger, they will no longer be content to exist on the blood of victims confined in pits – they’ll expand westwards into the County, killing wantonly.’

OUR VISIT TO
Todmorden had cost my master his life, but he had not died in vain. Now that I knew of the increasing danger, and of the threat to the County, I could perhaps do something about it. Otherwise it might have developed and grown unchecked for many years. But first I had to retrieve the Spook’s head and burn it in order to free his soul. Perhaps Judd Brinscall’s knowledge of Romanian dark entities might help me to do that.

‘How do you destroy a strigoica?’ I asked him. ‘I mean permanently, so that it can’t go off and possess another body. How do you do that? I’ve killed two strigoi hosts already but it hasn’t achieved anything in the long term. And Mistress
Fresque
told me that the first strigoi I drove from its body would quickly find a new one and be back to hunt me down.’

‘Two? You’ve killed two? Which was the first one?’

‘It was the partner of your enemy.’

‘Well done, Tom,’ Judd said with a grim smile. ‘Then Cosmina is half avenged already. There are many ways of dealing with strigoii and strigoica, but few are permanent: even decapitation or a stake through the left eye can only drive them out of their host. Garlic or roses can be used as a defence, and while salt can’t do them any great damage, a moat filled with salty water keeps them away.’

‘That’s the same method we used against water witches  . . . ’ I realized.

‘That it is, Tom. No doubt you spent a tough six months getting thick ears from Bill Arkwright. I’d had enough of it and ran back to Chipenden before my stay was half over,’ Judd told me.

I nodded sadly. ‘Bill’s dead. He was killed in Greece fighting the dark.’

‘Well, I can’t say I liked the man,’ he said, ‘but I’m sorry to hear that he’s dead. The northern area of the County will be a more dangerous place now. What became of Tooth and Claw? They were good working dogs but Tooth didn’t take to me much: he was well-named. He bit a piece out of my leg one night and the scar is still here to this day!’

‘Tooth is dead, killed by water witches. But Claw is still alive and has two pups, Blood and Bone. We left them back at Chipenden with the local blacksmith,’ I explained.

‘Pity, that. They’d be more use here helping us with these
witches
,’ Judd replied. ‘But to return to what we were discussing: the way to put a permanent end to the strigoica who possess living bodies is to burn the body while they are still within it. With the strigoii who possess the dead, the only sure way is to expose them to sunlight. I know a lot about dealing with such creatures. We need to work together now – I want to make up for what I did and there’s a lot that I can teach you. But one thing I can tell you: there’s little to fear from the strigoi coming back to kill you. Oh, it’ll find itself another host eventually, but once it’s been driven out of a body its memory starts to disintegrate. With a different host it’ll start a new stage of its existence and forget all about Todmorden and its former strigoica partner. She was just trying to frighten you, Tom, that’s all.’

‘I saw your book in the daemon’s library – the one about the moroii,’ I said.

‘I wrote that in happier days. The daemons took it from me to make the library seem more convincing. You see, each strigoi and strigoica dwelling is a place of deceit, a house of illusions. They use a grimoire as the source of those illusions. That and my own book were probably the only real books in there. Now, explain why they wanted you and John Gregory here. They never bothered to tell me.’

I explained about our struggle against the Fiend and how we had bound him temporarily. Then I told him that Grimalkin was on the run with the Fiend’s head, trying to keep it out of the hands of our enemies.

‘Because you were guiding us here, we put most of our
suspicions
aside. It was only after they’d murdered my master that the strigoica explained what they wanted,’ I explained. ‘She had been put under pressure to lure us to Todmorden. You told me that they all worked together – well, they are certainly doing that now, and for a special purpose. They killed my master and bound his soul within his head just so they could put pressure on me. They want me to summon Grimalkin so that they may kill her and take back the Fiend’s head in exchange. That’s something I’m certainly not going to do. I need to find my master’s head and burn it. They must have hidden it somewhere. We must search the hillside and check the house of every one of those daemons.’

‘I’m sorry, Tom, but if we attempt that, they would know what we were up to before we reached the first house. Day or night, one of each pair is always awake and alert to any threats. They’d sense us almost immediately and summon the witches to defend them. Romanian witches use
animism magic
. Unlike Pendle witches, who generally use blood, bone or familiar magic, they draw the life force out of their victims without even touching them. Their orbs would be there in the blinking of an eye. Within seconds we’d be dead, our animas drained. Later they’d use what they’d taken from us in rituals and incantations, and gather further power from the dark.’

‘So what
can
we do?’ I demanded, frustrated by Judd’s explanation. I already knew most of what he’d just told me, but that knowledge wouldn’t deter me. I
had
to release my master’s spirit. I was determined to do
something
.

‘We’d have to deal with the witches first,’ Judd continued,
‘picking
them off one by one. That might give us half a chance. Unlike female daemons, witches sleep during the day so that’s the time to strike. They don’t have a partner to watch over them.’

‘Are the witches more powerful than the daemons?’ I asked.

‘Yes, without a doubt – the moroii are the weakest of the hierarchy. So we try to kill the witches first – take them unawares while they are sleeping.’

‘Well, I know where at least four of their houses are,’ I told Judd. ‘While you were sleeping, I went up onto the moor again and marked them on a map. Here they are  . . . ’ I reached into my breeches pocket, pulled out my sketch and handed it to him.

He studied it for a few moments and then gave me a searching glance. ‘What’s that?’ he asked, pointing to a mark I’d made.

‘There was a strange beam of light, coloured an unusual dark shade of red. It came out of the ground beneath the trees and shone high into the sky. I’ve never seen anything like it before. The witches came in the form of orbs and circled it in a sort of dance, flitting in and out of the beam. After a while they soared off. It wasn’t long afterwards that the strigoi started to feed from you and I came down the hill to see if I could help.’

Judd shook his head and stared at the ground for a long time without speaking. What I’d just said had clearly affected him. Then I noticed his hands – they were shaking.

‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.

‘This is going from bad to worse. From what you’ve just told
me
, the witches are attempting to summon Siscoi, the greatest and most powerful of the Old Gods in Romania. Their spooks have many successful methods for dealing with ordinary vampiric entities such as witches, elementals and daemons, but the vampire god is truly dangerous – we are utterly powerless against him.’

The name sounded familiar. Again, I was annoyed at myself for not reading the Spook’s Bestiary more carefully. I was sure it had made some reference to Siscoi. ‘Is it easy to summon him?’ I asked. ‘Some of the Old Gods are difficult to bring to our world.’

‘That they are, Tom, and they can turn on those who summon them,’ Judd replied. ‘Some welcome the chance to destroy those who dabble in the dark. But unfortunately for us, Siscoi is different. He loves being worshipped and looks kindly upon those who bring him through a portal into this world. Romanian witches are able to summon him at midnight, but he can stay here only until dawn. That’s the good news. The bad news is that even from his domain in the dark, he can temporarily send out his spirit to reanimate the dead or possess the living. So you might think you’re dealing with a strigoi, and then, too late, you realize that the silver blade on the end of your staff is having no effect because it’s Siscoi. And that’s the end of you. There’s nothing to be done.’

‘What about this?’ I asked, drawing the Destiny Blade.

Judd whistled through his teeth and his face lit up in admiration. ‘Can I examine it?’ he asked.

I nodded and handed him the weapon.

‘So this is the sword you used to kill two strigoi hosts,’ he said, studying the hilt closely. ‘The skelt has been skilfully wrought, and those rubies that form its eyes are priceless. How did such a weapon come into your possession?’

‘It was given to me in the Hollow Hills by Cuchulain, one of the ancient heroes of Ireland. It was forged by the Old God Hephaestus. He made only three swords, and this is supposed to be the best of them.’

‘Well, Tom, you certainly mix in exalted circles. Made by one of the Old Gods, you say! I wonder if it has the power to slay one of their number?’ Judd asked.

‘I used it against the Morrigan – it didn’t destroy her, but it slowed her down and gave me a chance to escape,’ I explained.

‘You fought the Morrigan?’

‘It was in the Hollow Hills, just after Cuchulain gave me the blade.’

‘You’ve certainly had an eventful apprenticeship. I never ventured out of the County. No wonder I got the urge to travel and ended up in this mess,’ Judd said, handing me the blade. ‘But even if it could damage Siscoi, you’d never get near him. Vampiric entities can be fast, but nothing compared to him. You’d be dead before you knew it.’

My ability to slow time would give me a fighting chance of wounding Siscoi with the sword, but it didn’t mean I could put an end to him. The Old Gods had great powers of regeneration. Using the blade against the Morrigan had just bought me sufficient time to make my escape. However, I didn’t bother to correct Judd – it wasn’t wise to tell him too much. I didn’t tell
him
about Bone Cutter either. If the daemons put pressure on him in the future, he might tell them what he knew about me. So instead I asked him a question.

‘So what was that light shining out of the ground? How do the witches raise Siscoi?’

‘They create an
offal pit
,’ Judd replied. ‘First they search for a deep fissure in the ground. It has to be in a special location where dark magic is particularly potent. Over a period of weeks, they drop blood and offal down into it – mainly slices of raw liver. When combined with rituals and dark spells, this generates tremendous power within the pit – the beam is just a fraction of this escaping into the air. Siscoi grows himself a body by feeding on the offal and blood. When he is ready, the witches come at midnight to complete the final ritual. Then he climbs out of the pit within his flesh host, existing in the same manner as the Fiend. From what you’ve described, it seems that the witches’ rituals have reached the point where he is almost ready to emerge. It could happen at any time – maybe even at midnight tonight.’

‘What could be their purpose for summoning him right now?’ I asked.

‘They might just want to worship him. In return, he’ll give them power. But they’ve already tried to pressure you into bringing Grimalkin here. They want the Fiend’s head badly. Siscoi is fast, and once in the flesh can cover great distances rapidly. He might go after Grimalkin himself. After that you might be second on his list.’